Kompong PhlukJust 30 minutes before reaching Siem Reap, a small road leads to a cluster of floating villages. On the way, a crocodile farm sign can be seen. Driving through an off beaten road you reach boat dock.
After paying an entrance fee and hiring a motor boat which you hire for an hour, the journey to floating villages begin.
Cambodia recieved very heavy rainfall that year and the area was badly flooded. There was just water everywhere. Paddy fields were all submerged in water.
Kampong Phluk was the first village we passed through. A school on stilts had just got over and children were going back home.
Normal life activities can be seen in the village. Children playing, women either bathing or washing clothes. Pots with small plants adorn houses.
Boats are the only way of transport in these villages.
Televisions seem to be an important part of household, so TV antennas over these houses!
A floating house not on stilts.
Celebrations are part of everyday life and when you live over water, then functions are also held on boats.
Chong Kneas is another village and is the last floating village on this journey.
After the villages, start the mangrove forests. This is a parking for small boats which you need to hire and it takes you inside the mangroves.
The mangroves are humid with snakes and mosquitoes inside.
The darkness inside the mangroves was enough to put me off. These mangroove forests provide a perfect habitat for fish, water snakes, crocodiles, and are home to pelicans, storks and other water birds.
Soon after, one is greeted by a large expanse of water, the Tonle Sap.
Tonle Sap is the largest fresh water lake. It gets flooded during the rainy season which begins sometime in June and lasts till October. Mekong, the largest river in South-East Asia which begins from the Tibetan plateau and flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam before finally meeting into South China Sea.
Mekong flows from North to South for most of the year but surprisingly during the rainy season it starts flowing upwards, that is towards North. This flowing of water fills Tonle Sap. That is why it swells up during rainy season and shrinks during the dry season.
After paying an entrance fee and hiring a motor boat which you hire for an hour, the journey to floating villages begin.
motor boats ready to take you to villages
Cambodia recieved very heavy rainfall that year and the area was badly flooded. There was just water everywhere. Paddy fields were all submerged in water.
Kampong Phluk was the first village we passed through. A school on stilts had just got over and children were going back home.
school in Kampong Phluk
Normal life activities can be seen in the village. Children playing, women either bathing or washing clothes. Pots with small plants adorn houses.
Boats are the only way of transport in these villages.
A place to grow fresh produce!
Enjoying munchies on way home from school
A girls group prefers to go separately
Maneovering boats begins at a very early age
A pig sty!
These are prawn and fish farming tanks.
A health center at another village, Chong Kneas.
Chong Kneas is another village and is the last floating village on this journey.
a floating house
parking for small boats
After the villages, start the mangrove forests. This is a parking for small boats which you need to hire and it takes you inside the mangroves.
Soon after, one is greeted by a large expanse of water, the Tonle Sap.
Tonle Sap is the largest fresh water lake. It gets flooded during the rainy season which begins sometime in June and lasts till October. Mekong, the largest river in South-East Asia which begins from the Tibetan plateau and flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam before finally meeting into South China Sea.
Mekong flows from North to South for most of the year but surprisingly during the rainy season it starts flowing upwards, that is towards North. This flowing of water fills Tonle Sap. That is why it swells up during rainy season and shrinks during the dry season.
A watch tower
A police station
Many people may have different perception about this set of floating villages. If you want to experience some thing different and have time then I would say it was a pleasant experience.
is it true there were Dolphins in Tunle Sap and were all used for oil during the genocide
ReplyDeleteyes, sadly it is true :(
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